I bought our chickens a bunch of dill at the grocery store the other day. I have completely cracked.

I was wandering around, trying to drum up some lunch, and I couldn’t help but check out the fennel selection, just to see if there was anything that our flock would like. The fennel was OK, but didn’t have as much of the feathery foliage tops as I would have liked; plus, it was $4.99 a pound, which is a lot for a weedy free-ranger that grows, literally, on the sides of highways. But right next to the too-expensive fennel was a gorgeous, full bunch of dill. $2.99. I bought it, along with some clam chowder.

Note, I did not purchase a vegetable for me to eat. Just for the chickies. Like I said, cracked.

And, just as I suspected, the dill is a hit. Certainly $2.99 worth of fun.

We’re slowly learning about the chickens palates. They seem to like most plants in the carrot family, which includes their beloved fennel, dill, carrot tops, parsley, and celery greens. As best I can tell, their general rule is: Bitter is better.

Their patch of arugula has been plucked bare (the peppery green is their absolute favorite; we’ve re-planted, but germination takes time), so we’ve been saving scraps from the test kitchen to satiate their need for greens. At various times, Sunset staffers have brought in lovingly saved leaves of soft butter lettuce or mild red-tinged Oak Leaf lettuce; the chickens have been shockingly ungrateful. But give them some bitter carrot tops and they’re in chicken heaven.

To be perfectly honest, though, our girls are happiest to munch sow thistle or a weedy grass that’s popping up everywhere around their coop. (Our best Sunset garden minds think it’s quack grass; we think the seeds came from the straw we’re using in their coop.) They love weeds. (I tasted them myself; the grass is not delicious, but the sow thistle isn’t bad. Not that I’m advocating eating random plants that pop up in your garden, because I’m not.)

In other chicken-related news, I’m sorry to report that the chickens and I have fallen out of love. I’m still happy to drop a few bucks for the joy of having them rush over to eat dill out of my hand, but as they grow older (They’re all of 15 weeks old now) they’ve gotten skittish. And a little unfriendly. For a while I was letting Honey hop up onto my lap so I could stroke her golden, soft, marvelous feathers as I fed her. Then we had an … incident, shall we say, that ended that practice. How to put this? Both ends of Honey’s digestive system were working at once. Onto my lap. Let me tell you, from the front lines, that chicken poop is smelly but washes out in the laundry perfectly.

Ease of laundering aside, that little incident was enough to prompt me toward thoughts of roasting our little friends, perhaps with lemon and rosemary. (Weird how most people eat chicken nearly every day, but when you think about eating chickens you personally know you start to sound like Hannibal Lecter.)

Then, a mere two days later, the other Buff Orpington, Charlotte, pecked my back so hard that she broke the skin as I was crouching down to feed one of the others some greens. (Broke the skin just a tiny bit. But that was enough for me to wake up in a panic in the middle of the night, convinced that I had somehow contracted salmonella.)

Since then, the chickens and I have had a strict hands-off policy. Fellow chicken-wrangler MacKenzie Geidt and I still visit them in the afternoons and give them something good and green to eat, though. We also check the nesting box daily, to see if this is the day that the hens start laying eggs. So far: nothing. They’re 14 and 15 weeks old, which is actually a little young. (Most chickens start laying when they’re 4 to 6 months old, but the fact that it’s winter now may interfere with that timeline.)

COMMENTS

Shirley

2 comments, I was raised on a farm and some of the chickens, we handled more, I don’t remember if they were just friendlier, or if we always handled them as favorites, but we held them and smoothed their feathers and they put their heads under their wings and went to sleep on our laps.
The other comment is that the chicks are old enough for calcium grit, either purchased at the store or made from egg shells saved that you used. On the farm we used to bake them in the over and then put them in a bag and crush them fine with a rolling pin, I have forgotten how long to bake them, also a bird site says to bake them in a microwave for 5 minutes, but mine burn that long, I have a cockatiel, and love birds, so I do it for less time, and I also put some out for the wild birds if they need it. I love your chicks & garden and wish I lived where I could have them, the city of Orange forbids any as they are considered live stock. My Cockatiels & love birds were about 1 1/2 years old when they first layed eggs, and I thought I remembered that the chickens on the farm were around that age or age 2 when they layed, but maybe I do not remember correctly. I am waiting for your chickens to lay eggs and I think they are all beautiful. I raised green pole beans in a big plastic barrel with drain holes and I got 3 beans. The kids in the other apartment kept asking me why I had a tepee poles and not finished it.
Shirley S.

January 7, 2008 at 1:52 am

Marjorie

In the summer of 2005 I convinced my husband to let me get two chicks. I wanted them just to have fresh eggs. I was raised on a farm where chickens were treated well but they weren’t pets. My husband on the other hand didn’t think that way. He fell in love with them and babies them to death. He gives them wing massages. Their favorite treat is raw sunflower seeds and they will peck them out of our hands. (Oddly enough most of our friends are scared to give them any) They come to our back door every day looking for their handful of sunflower seeds.

January 3, 2008 at 1:15 am

karen anne

I’ve been following the online field journal for Operation Migration, which is teaching captive-raised endangered whooping cranes to migrate by having them follow ultralight aircraft (www.operationmigration.org/Field_Journal.html for details.)

In a posting from yesterday, one of the folks noted ” The dominance structure in a flock of Whooping cranes is maintained by biting and poking.”

I wonder if that’s what was going on with your chicken?

December 5, 2007 at 8:18 pm

trudy

p.s. I just found your blog a day or so ago and have read it from the beginning. I’m not sure if you read old comment areas, so I will drag this one to the top that I entered about the chickpeas not growing –

I found this on the web “Chickpea must be inoculated with a specific Rhizobium strain for Cicer species to ensure effective nodulation and nitrogen fixing activity.”

Also, they are extremely sensitive, apparently to herbicides, maybe some were used nearby.

November 30, 2007 at 9:15 pm

Elizabeth Jardina

Haha, Trudy, that’s true. I do not have kitty cats.

For our readers with chickens — do you touch them much? Pet them? Pick them up? I’m not sure what’s normal chicken-human interaction.

November 30, 2007 at 5:47 pm

trudy

What a wimp🙂 I take it you have no kitty cats who like to knead on your tummy with their claws out?

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Westphoria explores the innovations and lifestyle trends of the 13 Western states, covering food, drink, design, arts and culture, and the dreamers who live here. To contact the editor, westphoria@sunset.com